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D.C. Human Trafficking Task Force

DC Human Trafficking Task Force Logo

The D.C. Human Trafficking Task Force was formed in 2004 to increase the prosecution of traffickers while identifying and serving the victims of this horrific crime. In 2004, the Task Force became one of 42 U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) trafficking grant recipients. Link to grant announcement:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/archives/pressreleases/2004/DOJ04760.htm

The Four Main Task Force Goals

  • To facilitate a more coordinated anti-trafficking effort in the D.C. area through protocol development, extensive community outreach, proactive investigations, law enforcement training, intelligence sharing, and more formalized partnerships between law enforcement organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
  • To identify citizen, resident and transnational victims of both sex and labor trafficking.
  • To provide comprehensive services to trafficking victims.
  • To increase the prosecution of traffickers.

Trafficking Is:

The use of force, threat of force, fraud or coercion to recruit, harbor, transport, provide or obtain any person for labor or commercial sex or to cause a person under 18 to engage in a commercial sex act.

Trafficking Resources:

https://dchtresources.amaralegal.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPC6esXqX3U&t

Task Force Membership

Membership is open to any D.C. metropolitan area law enforcement agency or non-governmental organization involved in anti-trafficking activities. Below is a list of active members with a link to their website:

Law Enforcement

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia

D.C. Office of the Attorney General

D.C. Child and Family Services Agency

D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, Human Trafficking Unit

D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, Youth Investigations Branch

D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, Special Liaison Unit (SLU) - The SLU is comprised of the Asian Liaison, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Liaison, Gay and Lesbian Liaison and the Latino Liaison Units

Federal Bureau of Investigation

U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section, Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit

U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section

U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime

U.S. Department of State, Office to Combat and Monitor Trafficking in Persons

U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Department of Labor

Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor 1-866-4-USWAGE (1-866-487-9243)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families

Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force- Contact Jessica Johnson

Non-Governmental Organizations

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

Amara Legal Center

Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center (APALRC)

Ayuda

Boat People SOS

Break the Chain Campaign

Bridge to Freedom Foundation

Courtney's House

Exodus Project

FAIR Girls

Global Centurion

Global Rescue Relief

HIPS

Innocents At Risk

Latin American Youth Center

Polaris Project

Prevent Human Trafficking

Restoration Ministries

Salvation Army National Capital Area Command

Sasha Bruce Youthwork

Shared Hope International

Stop Modern Slavery- DC

Stop Modern Slavery-VA

Tahirih Justice Center

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Representative D.C. Prosecutions

United States v. Primous Williams

In September 2018, Primous Williams,30 , was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading to Sex Trafficking of a Minor and Pandering of an adult in D.C. Superior Court.  The defendant met the child in May of 2016 through another young woman he trafficked and proceeded to post advertisements offering her for commercial sex on Backpage.com on the same day he met her. The defendant set prices for commercial sex acts that the minor performed at the defendant’s residence, and kept all of the money that the minor earned. In June of 2016, the minor was recovered in Prince George’s County, Maryland during a sting operation. It was confirmed that the minor  was engaged in commercial sex at the direction of the defendant. The defendant has also plead guilty to one count of Pandering stemming from his trafficking of an adult. The adult began working for the defendant a few weeks before the minor.  She performed commercial sex acts at the direction of the defendant at his home.  It was confirmed that she was engaged in commercial sex at the direction of the defendant. Upon completion of his prison term, Williams will be placed on three years of supervised release. He also will be required to register as a sex offender for a period of 10 years. This sentence is to run concurrent to a sentence in Prince George’s County, Md., for related conduct.  The judge also ordered Williams to pay restitution in the amount of $10,000 to the two victims.

United States v. Marquavis Lewis

In July 2018, Marquavis Lewis, 30, pled guilty to one count of Unlawful Possession of an Unregistered Firearm and one count of Obstruction of Justice, stemming from his human trafficking operation which included transportation of three minors, as well as several adult females, into the District of Columbia for the purpose of facilitating a commercial sex party. He also pled guilty to Sex Trafficking charges in the Western District of North Carolina and was sentenced to 5 years and lifetime registration as a sex offender. During the course of the investigation, Members of the Metropolitan Police Department Human Trafficking Unit received information that the defendant was trafficking minors up and down the east coast for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts. The defendant set the prices and time limits for the sex acts that the minors would engage in, and arranged for advertisement of the minors online. Between April 20, 2016 and April 29, 2016, the defendant, by way of text messages and phone calls, entered into an agreement with an undercover officer to transport women and minor females from North Carolina to the District of Columbia on April 29, 2016, to provide exotic dancing and perform sexual acts for the men attending a “strip party” at a local hotel that evening. The defendant also stated that he would provide condoms, lubricant, and “sex toys” to the attendees. The defendant advised the UC to send six hundred dollars as an initial payment for each girl, totaling $1800 dollars, by Western Union to himself and to his “secretary.” The secretary was later identified as one of the three underage women whom the defendant was transporting to the District of Columbia for commercial sex. The defendant also sent multiple pictures of the minors, scantily clad, to the UC.

                On April 29, 2016, the defendant began transporting the victims to the District of Columbia for the purpose of engaging in exotic dancing and commercial sex acts. The defendant, to facilitate the trafficking of the women and minor females, brought with him a handgun and ammunition that he kept under the seat that he was riding in. He displayed the gun during several Snapchat videos observed by MPD and referenced the gun in several text messages leading up to his entry into the District of Columbia. The defendant did not hold a valid registration certificate for the firearm. Members of the MPD arrest team and the FBI, upon stopping the defendant as he approached the designated location, placed the defendant under arrest. An MPD officer observed the butt of the defendant’s handgun protruding from underneath the front passenger seat, and collected the handgun for evidence.  The handgun under the seat fit the description of the gun observed in the snapchat videos in the defendant’s possession.  During the course of the Government’s investigation, the defendant reached out directly and through a third party to encourage one of the minor females to cease her cooperation in the investigation and instead mislead authorities about the defendant’s involvement. In several jail calls after his arrest, the defendant directed his daughter’s mother, to keep the minors “close” and to persuade them to alter their testimony.

United States v. Gary Bell

In April 2018, Gary Bell, 25, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to Felony Assault and Attempt Trafficking in Labor or Commercial Sex Acts for Trafficking  a child during a three year period of time.  In 2014 and again in 2016 the defendant had a sexual relationship with the victim, recruited, enticed, obtained, facilitated, manipulated, and directed the victim to engage in commercial sex, and benefitted from the enterprise.  Moreover, on January 1, 2017, when the victim’s adult sister attempted to rescue her from the defendant, the defendant hit the victim’s sister causing her serious bodily injury in the form of a concussion.  The only reason the defendant stopped trafficking these victims in 2015 and 2016 was because he was incarcerated during this time period.

United States v. Daraya Marshall

In February 2018, Daraya Marshall, 37, was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of federal Sex Trafficking, one count of federal Possession of Child Pornography and one count of First Degree Child Sex Abuse.  Investigators learned that between the summer of 2014 and 2015, Marshall knowingly employed at least four girls to have sex with clients for money.  Marshall sought out the girls, posted illicit photos of them on Backpage.com and took money from commercial sex offenders.  In some cases, Marshall gave the girls drugs and shelter at his apartment on South Capitol Street in Southeast, and crossed state lines into Maryland and Virginia to pick them up and drive them to commercial sex offenders.  The defendant’s operation was thwarted when the youngest victim’s family filed a missing person’s report and the child victim was found to be residing with, and working for, the defendant.

United States v. Linwood Barnill

In October 2014, Linwood Barnhill was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of pandering a minor and one count of possession of child pornography. MPD officers investigating a missing 16 year-old girl located her at the defendant’s residence in Washington D.C. During the investigation, law enforcement learned that the defendant had recruited the juvenile, as well as additional juvenile girls, to engage in prostitution. The defendant often recruited the juveniles in public places including bus stops and malls, asking if they were interested in modeling. The defendant then took the juveniles to his apartment, where he took photographs of them. The defendant then attempted to arrange for “dates” in which the plan was for the juveniles to engage in commercial sex for money. At the time of the offenses but unbeknownst to the victims, the defendant was a sworn officer with the Metropolitan Police Department.

https://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2014/former-mpd-officer-pleads-guilty-to-charges-of-pandering-of-a-minor-and-possession-of-child-pornography

United States v. Jason Whren

In September 2014, Jason Whren was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing and prostituting a 15 year-old girl he had lured from the Pacific Northwest for purposes of prostitution. The defendant met the victim on Facebook and enticed her to travel to D.C. Upon her arrival, the defendant immediately began sexually abusing the victim and forcing her to engage in prostitution. Whren’s crimes were ultimately discovered by undercover officers with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Narcotics and Special Investigation Division, Human Trafficking Unit, who were conducting an operation to locate child trafficking victims in the District of Columbia. The defendant pleaded guilty to first degree sexual abuse of a child and pandering of a minor.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/district-man-sentenced-15-years-prison-prostituting-and-sexually-abusing-15-year-old

United States v. John Burrell Crist

In June 2014, John Burrell Crist was sentenced to 16 months in prison for after pleading guilty to two felony counts of pandering. The defendant had posted ads on Backpage.com, soliciting for his alleged escort business. The victim travelled to D.C. to meet the defendant, who ended up turning violent against her, taking her identification and possessions, and taking all of her money while forcing her to prostitute. The defendant came to the attention of the Metropolitan Police Department after beating the victim in a parking lot in April 2014.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/virginia-man-sentenced-16-months-prison-pandering-woman-he-lured-district-columbia

United States v. Dominque Bell et al.

In October, 2012, defendants Dominque Bell and Candice Ponder were sentenced to seven and four years in prison, respectively, after pleading guilty to one count each of pandering, inducing, or compelling a minor to engage in prostitution. On June 22, 2012, members of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the FBI and MPD, had conducted a proactive child sexual exploitation investigation at a location in Northwest Washington. This operation was part of a national initiative, called Operation Cross Country VI, in which law enforcement officers contacted individuals advertised on predicated prostitution related websites in an effort to recover sexually exploited minors. The task force identified a website that appeared to advertise sexual services by a very young female. They contacted the number on the ad and negotiated a price with Ponder for the minor and another female prostitute to come to the Northwest Washington location. A few hours later, two teenagers knocked on the door to the hotel room. They were recovered and interviewed by law enforcement. The task force members learned that the teenagers, who were 16 and 19, were victims of human trafficking orchestrated by Bell and Ponder. During the period of time that the teenagers were being trafficked by Bell and Ponder, they traveled with them to multiple jurisdictions throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area providing sexual services to male clients in exchange for money. The proceeds of these sexual acts would be turned over to Bell and Ponder.

Bell and Ponder had provided strict instructions to the victims to lie to law enforcement regarding their names and ages if caught, and threatened to harm them if they cooperated with law enforcement against them. In addition, the defendants provided the teenagers with marijuana and ecstasy pills between “dates”. Bell was always present in the vehicle during the “dates,” and carried both a handgun and a semi-automatic firearm with a scope attached to use for protection or intimidation during the course of the incidents.

https://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2012/maryland-couple-sentenced-to-prison-terms-for-running-a-prostitution-operation-involving-a-minor

United States v. Robert Braithwaite et al.

In December 2011, Robert Braithwaite was sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal charges of sex trafficking of children and other offenses. The defendant had encountered the victim, a 14 year-old girl who had run away from home, in Washington D.C. Braithwaite, along with Tavia Crudup, his co-defendant and the “bottom” in his trafficking operation, transported the victim to numerous places in D.C. and Maryland for purposes of prostitution, instructed her how to engage in prostitution, told her how much to charge for certain sexual acts, and required her to hand over the proceeds from each “trick” after each transaction

On May 31, 2011, the victim was picked up by astute Metropolitan Police officers for truancy when the officers identified the victim as too young to be walking the streets late at night.  An investigation then led police to Brathwaite, who was located along with Crudup in a Lexus sport utility vehicle close to where the child was out walking. Law enforcement officers later executed a search warrant and found a fully loaded semi-automatic firearm in the vehicle. In the weeks that followed, Crudup destroyed evidence and talked with Brathwaite about ways to obstruct evidence in the case. Both plead guilty, and Crudup was sentenced to one year of incarceration.

https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/dc/news/2011/dec/11-551.html

If you have any questions about the Task Force, please contact Coordinators, Assistant United States Attorney Amy Larson (ALarson1@usa.doj.gov) or Assistant United States Attorney Janani Iyengar. (JIyengar@usa.doj.gov)

Links

Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force

DC HTTF Web Site Disclaimer Statement

Links to Other Sites


The DC HTTF provides links to other websites as a convenience to its visitors. The inclusion of a link on this website does not constitute an official endorsement, guarantee or approval by the DC HTTF.
The DC HTTF neither endorses, has any responsibility for, nor exercises any control over the member organizations' views or the accuracy of the information on other websites.

Trafficking Victims and Witnesses please contact:

911

The Federal Bureau of Investigation:


601 4th Street NW
Washington, DC 20535
Phone: (202) 278-2000
Fax: (202) 278-2478
E-mail: washington.field@ic.fbi.gov

Immigration and Customs Enforcement


SAC Washington, DC
2675 Prosperity Ave
Fairfax, VA 22031
Main (703) 285-6700
Fax (703) 285-6709

Non-Governmental Organization Hotlines:

Catholic Charities - D.C.

National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) Multi-Lingual Hotline, Operated by Polaris Project


1-888-373-7888
Updated June 9, 2022